#anti behavior

Antis' foundation is the belief that fiction affects reality, in that any problematic behaviors or topics in media, fictitious or not, will cause people to normalize those behaviors, resulting in people (specifically minors) thinking that such actions are acceptable in real life.

When I was a kid, people complained my mom let me "watching a violent boys show." Sadly, I've not acquired any ninja skills despite watching every single series and movie made about Ninja Turtles.

Antis attempt to glorify their ideology by rebranding it as antipedophilia and anti-incest, but it is actually a loose ideology of disinformation, virtue signaling, and legitimate abuse.

However, what truly marks a cult is the control attempted over behavior and thought. Participants in anti circles perpetuate a climate of fear, shame, and trauma in fan spaces.

Joining fandom really shocked me how hateful some people were just as in other online mainstream spaces, doing harm to real people over fictional characters they didn't even create.

To antis, the fictional media that individuals consume takes precedence over how that individual behaves in real life; this reasoning is the basis of justification for how antis judge and target nonantis. This judgment relies heavily on enacting cognitive dissonance ....

Additional deindividuation thanks to online anonymity allows harassers to feel generally free from legal repercussions despite breaking laws that would apply in cases of in-person harassment (Citron 2014), such as threats of bodily harm or dismemberment, stalking, invasion of privacy, or publicly outing or doxing their targets (@freetofic 2020).

As someone who has worked with children who were the products of incest, I most certainly know the difference between real life with actual humans and fictional characters of a non-existent species.

One deeply concerning aspect of the anti movement is that the age groups participating appear to be overwhelmingly young—in their teens or early twenties.

While antis claim to prioritize the safety of minors above all else, they will still target them with accusations of pedophilia.

Instead of being given the tools and resources to make safe and educated decisions on a case-by-case basis, teens in anti spaces are called to arms and encouraged to engage in recklessly abusive behavior toward themselves and others over topics they do not yet fully understand while simultaneously spreading troubling ideologic misinformation (Gilden 2016). The overt misuse of criminally charged and consequential topics thus saturates discussions and desensitizes community members, making it far more difficult to figure out who poses a genuine threat in the real world.

The moral topics targeted by antis, such as incest, abuse, rape, and pedophilia, of course existed long before modern-day online media, and may still occur in regions without widespread access to internet, television, and other media outlets. The anti movement perpetuates archaic systems of judgment based on personal disgust and region-specific morality, punishing powerless people for their fannish interests and tainting their online communities. Their work does nothing to dismantle harmful systematic institutions; rather, it embraces them, even going so far as to actively harm and destroy members of their own community.

Many people like to blame social media for people having affairs, yet people have been unfaithful to their spouses throughout history. I promise you, there are ways to make a difference and protect real-life human children from abuse... harassing fandom creators is not one of them and a waste of everyone's time and energy.

“You’re a Zionist and rape apologist for watching this show!”

I'll defend Jimin CONSTANTLY but I don't often have to on here since so many Jimin biased people are the ones sending me asks. And I also know how the algorithm works on twt and that quietly reporting works better on removing the hate than engaging with it does. But don't drag different members down in an effort to defend Jimin from whatever you think he needs defending from. And the last people Jimin will ever need to be defended from is his other members.

besides the obvious lesson of leave people alone if they're not hurting you, the other major lesson I learned is:

not everyone has the same idea as to what is "normal" or "right"

One major thing antis do is act like you should just "know" not to ship certain pairings or draw certain things. They are deliberately vague about their own rules about what is acceptable or not. But it's like they really do expect everyone else in the world to share their exact "moral" compass (I put that in quotes because antis do not behave in a way that suggests morality, imo). Basically, they expect you to read their mind and agree with them about what is right and wrong. You shouldn't have to be told not to watch that show or ship that pairing, you should just KNOW.

Similar to conservatives, as usual. Conservatives also tend to hold some imaginary bar of acceptability in their minds and just expect you to know where it is. And they will punish you if you fail. Same with antis; they go out of their way to punish or try to hurt real people who made the mistake of liking something they don't.

Anyway, I used to have a big problem with expecting other people to just know where my boundaries were, what is right behavior, what is not. I caught myself doing this just the other day because I got mad at someone who overstepped boundaries I didn't tell him. I just expected him to KNOW.

Well I'm going to work on that. After my experience with antis and other similar bullies, I figure maybe I should give people the benefit of the doubt more and ask questions and verbally enforce boundaries instead of just expecting people to read my mind.

What garbage decides that this is okay behavior? That this is totally acceptable to do to content creators? 

Like who the hell thinks this will make the content creator come crawling back to make more content? When all they ever did WAS that specific ship? 

In response to my previous post, it appears that the harassing and platform-rule-breaking anti has deleted all three of her tumblr blogs and may yet still delete her presence on other platforms. 

And if she returns? Then it is not only the Lotura fandom to whom she will be held accountable.

I would like to take this time to thank @mermaider00, who is the stronghold of the Ven’tar/Lotor (Ventor) ship fandom. Despite the anti being an active Ventor shipper and supporting her work, Mer swiftly blocked the anti and called out such anti behavior as well. I am very grateful for this and want to acknowledge Mer’s action, because it cost her directly to stand with Loturas and to champion the humanity of other fans, despite different shipping preferences. 

With such solidarity in mind, I’d like encourage the VLD fandom to stick together and remain vigilant against users who would “pull a mariposa” against any ship. The militarized anti behavior, malicious spamming, and mass-blog stalking, all while attempting to circumvent blocking controls against Tumblr’s Community Guidelines and harassment policies, is a direct threat to the future of fandom at large.